


koi no yokan

by Cumberbatch Critter (ivelostmyspectacles)



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, M/M, Mutual Pining, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 15:10:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11293230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/Cumberbatch%20Critter
Summary: 6/11. Yusuke spends the night.In their own ways, both he and Akira are longing.





	koi no yokan

Akira slept on his side.

Yusuke wasn’t intentionally staring, but he couldn’t help it. Summer heat was rolling in and this attic was stuffy, and it seemed he was having more trouble adjusting to a new location than he had previously thought he would. There was nothing else to look at in the room; he had a view of the rafters if he looked straight up, dusty shelves to his left and the television on the table in front of him, but he wouldn’t turn it on to disturb Akira, who was clearly asleep.

So it turned out that Akira was actually the most fascinating occupant in the room to inspect. Living, breathing humans were good subjects, after all. If it had been a little brighter in the room, he would have slipped his sketchbook free of his things and gotten a quick draft of Akira; as it was, it was only light enough for him to have adjusted enough to see Akira, but not to see pencil on paper properly. Maybe one day, perhaps.

Definitely one day, if he had any say in the matter. Akira was beautiful. There was no way around that. Funny that Akira didn’t seem to notice it, but beauty was, as ever, in the eye of the beholder and Akira was _gorgeous_. He wasn’t at all delicate, but his features still remained to be distinctly feminine; he had wide, dark eyes that were framed with the large glasses; endless wonder at the world around him; a kind heart, and a strong one, with strong hands that had regularly gone in for a high five when passing command in battle, when helping him to his feet after a fall. His beauty wasn’t in just a physical sense, but in soul as well as body.

Yusuke would very much like to draw him, and capture such a thing if he could.

Such as now: Akira _was_ sleeping on his side, facing the stairs and thus giving Yusuke a murky view of his face. (He himself had abandoned looking at the rafters long ago.) His lips looked slightly parted. If Yusuke kept himself very quiet, he imagined he could hear his breathing, just gentle inhales and exhales in the otherwise silence. He was on his side and yet not curled up, limbs askew, Morgana sleeping between his ankles. His shirt had rucked up over his stomach, exposing a patch of what Yusuke now knew to be unblemished skin, thanks to their time spent in the bath. (He hadn’t been staring there, either, but his sight was arrested by such a thing.) He was sleeping with a thin blanket, but he had mostly shifted it away, save for one corner that he was holding onto with a clenched fist, drawn up to nearly his chin, looking for all the world like he needed it. Perhaps it was a sense of security?

… Come to think of it, now knowing Akira’s story, he was beginning to wonder just how much Akira didn’t let on when it came to not only settling into the life of a Phantom Thief, but a life here, with his record, as well.

It probably didn’t bear dwelling on, Yusuke knew. Akira was very stubborn about keeping his well being to himself; he could be swaying and still try to push on through without asking for any kind of assistance. No one ever seemed to pull him up on it, either, unless it was really bad. But trust Akira to be the one to routinely ask, in every moment of downtime, how everyone else was holding up.

A kind heart. Some may say a foolish one, but Yusuke didn’t think he was in such a position to judge. None of them were.

Right now, though, in this moment, Yusuke could think only of what a serene tableau this scene was, and his hands itched to have a paper and pen at his disposal. He wondered if he could draw by the light of his cell phone… but no, that might wake Akira as well. That was the very last thing that he wanted to do, after he so graciously offered him his room to spend the night in. So, he was stuck, lying here and watching Akira dream whatever dream he was having, and pondering his newfound friendship with the man.

That was what this was, correct? Friendship? Yusuke had never particularly had a person that he would call friend. He had plenty of acquaintances, especially through Madarame’s influence, but he rarely thought of going out with them for anything asides work. He certainly hadn’t pondered moving into any of their rooms, needless as though it may have been then. So this was Yusuke’s best approximation of a friend, and it was something he was now exceptionally happy to have. The Phantom Thieves had become a pleasant distraction, and Akira, even moreso.

Goodness, he wanted him to model for him, though. He never had been able to properly capture Ann on canvas and he was still disappointed about that, but Akira would be even better. Posed properly, with lighting, sans clothing, that unblemished skin on display, ready to be considered, ready to be committed to memory, ready to touch and explore with all the candor he could be allowed– what a beautiful painting it would make.

It really was warm in this attic, wasn’t it? He wondered how Akira would manage if the temperature spiked even more. Perhaps he could get an air conditioner. Ah well. Yusuke pushed his hair away from his neck and endeavoured to ignore the feeling of his sleep shirt clinging to his back with sweat.

He really ought to try and sleep again. He was going to be at less than his best tomorrow. At least, he thought idly, there might be a breakfast of coffee and whatever foods this cafe happened to serve. Curry, even, perhaps. He would like that a lot. Especially if Akira were awake to eat it with him. Perhaps he could sketch him then.

 

 

 

God, it was hot up here. Akira rolled over, kicking at the blankets. Morgana made a hissing noise and jumped up onto the windowsill and Akira watched him go blearily. He had forgotten he was there. It was so _hot_. It wasn’t even properly summer, was it? It was hotter in Tokyo than in his hometown. He wasn’t _used_ to this.

He also wasn’t used to cute artist boys sharing his bedroom– attic– and now that he’d woken up, he was hyperaware of Yusuke’s presence, and he was too warm, and now he couldn’t get back to sleep. This was coming from _him_ , who had had trouble falling asleep with Morgana, a cat, in the room at first. There was no way he was going to get back to sleep, was there? Crap. He didn’t know how he’d managed to fall asleep in the first place.

Squinting at his phone showed they were still an hour or so out from sunrise, and Akira dropped his head back onto the pillow. And then stared at the ceiling, and rolled onto his side, and stared towards the staircase, and, eventually, turned his head enough to direct his eyes towards his temporary roommate sleeping on the sofa.

At least _someone_ was asleep, he thought, without bitterness. Yusuke looked… peaceful. As much as he could tell, anyway. He could see without his glasses for anything but reading, but the murky darkness in the room still made it hard to see. But even then… Yusuke was beautiful.

_God_ , how could one man be so beautiful and yet so _oblivious_ at the same time? As if the two went together, but… that was undoubtedly part of his charm. He didn’t _know_ – he had no idea just how gorgeous he was. Just how _attractive_ he was… and Akira could stare all day into that sun and all it was going to do in the end was burn him.

Trust him, he had been trying to express interest since Yusuke had fallen into Madarame’s Palace. Clearly Yusuke wasn’t into… whatever it was that Akira was into.

But those eyes, dark, always inquisitive, finding beauty and interest in things that Akira wouldn’t have ever looked at twice. Most of the time, Yusuke was finding beauty in things that Akira wouldn’t have looked at _once_ , and if anything, Yusuke was teaching him to find beauty in the small things. That was probably cliché as hell. He didn’t care.

He was stretched out on his back, Yusuke, one hand resting against his chest. The other arm had fallen off the bed, sleeve shoved up to expose a swath of pale skin from wrist to near elbow. And those hands… he liked watching his hands, what could he say?

Yusuke gestured a lot if he got excited, like there was too much passion in his body to be contained by mere wide eyes and breathless words. They liked to gauge objects for artwork constantly, wielded a katana as effortlessly as a paintbrush, and Akira could still remember watching Yusuke try to paint Ann that one time. It was the only time he had gotten to see Yusuke really at work. Sure, he had seen him doodling and sketching, he did that nearly as often as he was idly nibbling on whatever food he could get his hands on, but there was something about Yusuke being in his element, with all of his things, in what they jokingly referred to as ‘his zone’… but it wasn’t funny. It was… good. Interesting. Akira liked to watch him like that, devastatingly intense and in a whole other, beautiful realm.

He wanted to watch him work again. To take paintbrush to canvas and be in such an amazing state that he didn’t even notice someone speaking to him. Pure dedication, and God it looked nice on Yusuke. Or, it had looked nice on Yusuke, that one time. Akira imagined it would look nice again. He always intended to ask, but it seemed like something always got in the way. Maybe when they were less busy.

His hair was draped across his face. Just messy enough that it made Akira feel fond to look at him, made him smile and want to cross the room to sweep it behind his ear. He _definitely_ wasn’t going to. But it was nice to think about. Yusuke’s hair beneath his fingers… soft and silky smooth. He’d accidentally learned that it _was_ so soft when he’d had to fix Yusuke’s ridiculously high collar in Mementos once. He’d almost made comment on it and decided against it. Probably for the best, but still…

… not that Yusuke would have taken it in the way that Akira intended. Yusuke _always_ took _everything_ wrong. Akira could have straight up said he liked him and Yusuke would probably just smile and say he liked him too, and completely miss the point. He was so… oblivious, like that. His head was always up in the clouds, but missed signals aside, it really was cute. (Most of the time.) The others tended to make fun of him a bit– and sometimes, Akira would gently misdirect the conversation to pull it away from the teasing when it went too far– and Akira understood but that was what made Yusuke Yusuke, and that was what had made him fall in love with him. That, and a multitude of other various things that he let himself think about when he was supposed to be sleeping and watching the person of his affections sleep instead. That wasn’t strange at all. Who was he to talk.

But really, how lucky was he for Yusuke to come stay with him? How lucky were they that Sojiro let not only him, and Morgana, stay, but let Yusuke share with him without even any kind of supervision. For all Sojiro knew, they could have wrecked the cafe. (Not that they would.) For all he knew, they could have been… _together_. (Not that Sojiro would have wanted to know.) How lucky was he to have the person he had this stupid, secret little crush on sleeping less than ten feet away?

… how _unlucky_ , too, because it was also a special kind of torture. So close and so far. But there were some things he would never have, it seemed, so Akira was glad he was permitted this, at least.

He really ought to stop thinking about him and try to go back to sleep, though. Fantasies continued to get him nowhere because, in the end, that was all they were: fantasies. Akira huffed slightly and turned his head to look back at the ceiling, and then rolled over so that he was facing the wall. He really was grateful, though; in the morning, they’d be able to have breakfast together and maybe Akira would do this all over again, if Yusuke continued to stay. He hoped that he did.

**Author's Note:**

> yooo 


End file.
